


Icy Death Then Freezing Breath

by Synthetic_Miracle



Series: Frozen Apart [3]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Afterlife, Callum & Ezran & Rayla - Freeform, Callum & Sarai, Callum really loves his friends and family okay, Character Rebirth, Gen, Grief/Angst, Hurt And Some Comfort, Jack Frost inspired! Callum, and they all love him too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-05 13:15:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16811362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Synthetic_Miracle/pseuds/Synthetic_Miracle
Summary: Callum is dead, and he needs to move on. After all, there's nothing he can change now, death isn't something that can be reversed.(Unless, of course, fate isn't quite done with him yet.)





	1. Afterlife

**Author's Note:**

> Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it.  
> -Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Callum opened his eyes to a warm, soothing light rather than the chilling darkness that he had last been confronted with. As he tried to look around Callum realized he couldn’t make out anything distinct- his surroundings seemed fuzzy and ephemeral. All that he could observe was the warm light being cast around him, floating and shimmering on something mist-like, although he couldn’t make out the source of the light itself.    
  
“Hello?” Callum asked the empty space, standing up and noticing that the floor felt very solid, though he couldn’t actually see it, just the glimmery, misty substance. His voice didn’t ring or echo as it would have in one of the vast empty halls in the castle, yet there wasn’t an end to the area in sight. Callum knew that he must be dead, yet he had no idea what to do next or what was going on. This sure didn’t seem like any of the afterlife possibilities he had heard of, and frankly, it was starting to scare him a bit.    
  
Whatever this new situation turned out to be, Callum told himself to just be thankful that he was no longer suffering through the crushing, terrifying fate of drowning alone in a freezing lake. He could breathe now, uninhibited by the icy water that had flooded his lungs during his final moments of life. It was weird, knowing that he was dead and yet still breathing, but it did help tie him to reality. Callum reminded himself, struggling to not break down at the thought of his little brother, that at least Ezran had made it out, safe and sound with Rayla and the dragon egg. They’d all be safe, peace would be restored, and that was all that mattered. Despite that thought process, Callum felt like he'd collapse due to the emotions plaguing him. He crouched down in an effort to make himself smaller and hugged his knees tightly to his chest. Ezran was safe, but he was all alone now, and maybe forever if King Harrow had died. Sure Ez had Rayla, but they hadn’t even known Rayla that long, she wouldn’t be able to provide his brother much emotional solace, even if she could protect him physically. Before the thoughts devolved Callum into an utter mess of grief and sobbing, he forced himself to breathe in and out slowly and measuredly.    
  
Callum’s first priority, he knew, had to be to figure out the position he now found himself in- he was dead, completely alone, and nothing concrete was in sight. There were no other spirits (and oh, that’s all he is now… a spirit) here that he could see, just the golden, mist-filled nothingness. He stood up again and started moving, deciding that if his soul didn’t just cease after death, well, then there must be something else, and he would find it.    
  
Time passed strangely in this new, ethereal realm. Callum didn’t have anything to measure its passage, nor did he get tired or hungry, so he was left wandering seemingly endlessly. While it was a very trivial thing to want, Callum really wished that he had his sketchbook so he could have something real at least, and so he could sketch the light as it reflected off the ever-warping mists. The scenery was very pretty, even mesmerizing at times, though Callum was beginning to wish to see something, anything else. Even just a solid shape in the distance would be refreshing, at least it would be something different. Callum couldn’t even get a good look at the ground. Whenever he crouched down and tried to see it, even if he put his face right against the floor, all there would be was mist, packed more tightly together maybe, but still mist.   
  
After what felt like ages, though he really had no true way of knowing how long, Callum started talking to himself aloud, hoping for some response. He didn’t have high hopes, but at least hearing his own voice would make Callum feel more real and less like some kind of ghost.   
  
“Mist, mist, and oh look! More mist! Where is this light even coming from? It’s all soft and warm and goldish like at sunrise, but there’s no light source?! What even,” Callum rambled. He tried to stay away from serious topics, so as not to send himself into a state of grieving and existential crisis. If Callum let himself stop and think about his current situation, even for a second, he knew that he’d be stuck curled up in a ball, grieving for all that he’d lost and the brother who now had to go through life alone.   
  
“Aaaaand we’re walking, moving forward, away from my sad thoughts. We’re moving presumably in the exact same direction as I have been walking for a while, though it’s not like I’d know. Maybe I’ve actually been walking around in circles? It’s not like the scenery changes, the mist just shifts, so I wouldn’t really be able to tell the difference,” Callum narrated to a nonexistent audience, desperately hoping that maybe somebody would hear eventually. If this was how eternity was meant to be spent, Callum knew he would go insane fairly quickly, so he just kept walking and narrating, walking and narrating.    
  
Eventually, Callum couldn’t take it any longer. There was absolutely nothing anywhere, and the thoughts of his death and loved ones pressed on his mind as consistently as the annoying mist pervaded the whole area. Callum just couldn’t last another second without letting all of his sorrow and fear out, so he curled up on the floor and just let the tears come. The mist swirled around him like a blanket, almost providing him some measure of comfort.   
  
Callum had died, and it had been absolutely terrifying. He was dead- and at the ripe old age of fourteen no less. He’d fallen through the ice, away from his little brother, where the cold had paralyzed him, causing him to drown. The terror from that alone was enough to make him break down sobbing, but added to the fact that he’d left Ezran, his baby brother, all alone on a dangerous trip across the land when their father could be dead? It just tore a hole in Callum’s chest. Not only was Callum now alone, but so was his little brother, the person who he had tried to protect at all costs, the person who he loved above all others. Ez, who had already gone through so much, to now lose his big brother and potentially the last of his family? Callum couldn’t bear to think about what his beloved brother was going through, and he hoped that Rayla was able to actually be there for Ezran, not just protect him.   
  
And Rayla, oh boy. He prayed that she didn’t blame herself for his death, he knew there was nothing she could have done, and she couldn’t have known that taking a bit of time to talk would be the end of him. Some deep, vengeful, angry part of him wanted to get mad at her, to curse her for not listening to him, but he knew that was irrational. Rayla wasn’t at fault for his death, it was a lot of misfortune that piled up to result in… this. There was so much he’d never get to do, not now. So many experiences that Callum would now miss out on, but what weighed on him most was the separation from those he loved. Since he was dead, he’d never again see Rayla, who he’d finally started to bond with, or Ezran, King Harrow or any of his other friends and family, ever again. It seemed that although he was dead like his mother, he wouldn’t ever get to see her again, either. He just wanted to go back, to be able to love and interact with them again, to make sure they were safe. Callum continued to shake from his cries, hugging his knees impossibly closer to his stomach. The mist seemed to wrap closer around him, providing a sensation of warmth and security.   
  
Callum continued crying for a very long time, but eventually, the tears tapered off and he just continued laying down. He was being hugged by the golden mist and tried to focus on just breathing in and out. Once Callum had calmed down, he wasn’t tired like he would have been, were he alive. However, when he went to stand up and continue his neverending journey, the mist gathered in closer, allowing him to stand but not to move. The mist started swirling around him, glinting in the soft light and creating a vortex of sorts surrounding Callum.    
  
The spinning mists trapping him in place probably should have freaked Callum out more, but he was honestly just relieved that something was actually happening. He tried to memorize the beautiful sight so that if he ever did get a sketchbook, he could draw the entrancing scene.    
  
The mists kept revolving faster and faster until eventually, Callum couldn’t see farther than a few inches in front of his face. After what was probably a minute or two of the vortex whipping around it started slowing down, and Callum could finally see something more than the buttery light glittering off of endless mist. 

The moment he could, Callum ran into the waiting arms of his mother. He’d missed her hugs a lot over the years, the feeling of warmth and security they gave him would never wear off. 

“Callum, I can’t say that I’m happy to see you here so soon,” Sarai murmured into Callum’s hair, “but at least you didn’t get caught up in the misty midsts of denial for long. I’ve missed you so much, my sweet boy.”   
  
“I’ve missed you too, mom,” Callum said into his mom’s shoulder, feeling the first true bit of happiness he’d had since he fell into that fateful lake. The two spirits stood there for a minute, having been apart for so long that the length of the hug wasn’t awkward at all.

When the two parted, Callum finally took a look at his new surroundings. The area seemed like an in-between meeting place, showing the palace gardens on a sunny day, but getting strangely fuzzy towards the distant horizon. Still, everything felt real, from the sunshine bathing the garden in light to the gorgeous flowers and wildlife that surrounded the mother-son duo. Even the perfumey aromas that permeated the air smelt exactly like they had when Callum had been alive. The familiar gardens combined with his mother’s presence put him at ease, in a way that he hadn’t been since way before the day of King Harrow’s assassination attempt. 

Sarai awkwardly cleared her throat, and Callum knew that she must have something extremely important to tell him. Whenever his mom didn’t know how to broach a serious topic, she’d always start off like that- an idiosyncrasy that she apparently hadn’t shed in death. 

“Callum, I have an offer that I need to deliver to you. Some of the, well, I suppose you could call them the higher-ups, have a very unique opportunity for you. You see, you weren’t meant to die at that lake, it was an anomaly- a wrench thrown into the fragile tapestry of fate. Because of that, you have the option to go back. Not back to life, per se, as you did die, and that’s not a reversible process, but you would be able to interact with the realm of the living.”

Callum could only look at his mother in utter shock, unable to verbally respond to the proposition. Seeing her son’s inability to ask for further elaboration, Sarai continued explaining. 

“If you choose to accept the offer, your soul will be returned to the living world as a guardian spirit of sorts. You’ll be able to interact with the world and eventually with people too. While you can’t be brought back to life, you would be returned to a slightly modified version of your body. This would- well, it would allow you to have some powers related to the elements that caused your death. So, if you want to manipulate ice, water or the cold, you won’t need a spell or primal stone, although you would in order to do any other kind of magic.

“That being said, there are some drawbacks that I don’t know the specifics of. What I do know is that you want to be able to protect Ezran and to help our people. Will you accept the offer?”

Callum looked piercingly at his mother, already knowing that he wanted to go back. He had to help if he could, no matter the personal consequences. However, he wanted to make sure that his mom would be okay staying alone in the afterlife for a bit longer. 

Sarai smiled a bit wistfully and embraced Callum again, already well aware of her son’s choice.

“When I go back, how will I be able to find Ezran and Rayla again?” Callum asked.   
  


“The wind will guide you to where you need to go,” she said, “so long as you stay on its good side.”

“Okay, so I’ve got to make friends with the wind, no problem,” Callum joked to lighten the mood, and in a vain attempt to lessen his nerves.    
  
Sarai let out a small chuckle. She’d sorely missed her son’s light and loving personality, having been a fan of his jokes when she was alive, and perhaps the only one laughing at some of them once she was watching from the other side of the veil. She wished that she could see Ezran again too, talk to him again, though she was beyond grateful that Callum had managed to save him from the frigid lake.    
  
“Do you have any more questions, Callum?” Sarai asked.   
  
“I’m sure I will when it’s too late to ask, but not really. I do want to know how long it’s been since I- since I died? Oh, and do you have a message for Ezran or King Harrow?” Callum replied.   
  


Sarai thought for a moment, and answered, “You’ve been dead for a few hours now, it should be nightfall by the time you get back. And I wish I could, darling. Sadly, I’m not allowed to deliver messages to the living, and you won’t be able to give away information on the afterlife. Just know that I love you all very much. And Callum? I’m so proud of you.” 

  
“We all love you so much mom, and when you died, it was really hard. I wish I could tell them the truth, but… I guess that’s just how things are for now.”

  
With all that said Sarai hugged her son once more. “It’s time for you to go now, dear. Brace yourself, it’s going to be cold.”    
  
Callum found himself being wrapped in mist again, though this time it was shimmering silvery white, almost like moonlight. The mist started swirling and speeding up, separating him from his mother. He gave her one last grin before he was gone, the mist hiding him from view and returning him to the realm of the living.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo I've finally written this a week later than I had hoped, but it's because I wrote about three thousand words, rewrote/deleted half of that completely, and wrote a second chapter. I'm still not happy with the dialogue between Sarai and Callum, but oh well I guess. Hopefully, you liked this chapter, even though I did some more worldbuilding in it. I wanted to show Callum in the afterlife somehow and explain a bit about why he was brought back and to do that I kind of needed to make up an afterlife for this show. With any luck, I'll be able to post the second chapter shortly!
> 
> Thanks so much for reading this series! Kudos are appreciated, and I absolutely love to hear your questions/comments/concerns/suggestions, so please feel free to comment as well!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.  
> -Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

The world was cold, and it was dark. Upon opening his eyes, something he’d thought he would never have the chance to really do again, Callum’s first instinct was to take in a large lungful of air. Of course, all that came rushing in was an overwhelming amount of frigid water, causing Callum to panic even as he realized that it didn’t feel like he was drowning. Despite the uncomfortable pressure in his lungs, he was fine, though his mind was screaming at him that he was dying again, alone and afraid. He tried to push on, realizing that he could feel the cold, yet it wasn’t harming him, and after breathing in the water he wasn’t choking, not like before. Still, the water surrounding him was pitch black, just as he remembered, and it was nearly impossible for Callum to find which direction was up, even as he moved his head around frantically.

After searching for a moment, his terror only increasing all the while, a lone strand of light caught Callum’s eye. It was beautiful, silvery moonlight, gently splicing through the otherwise impenetrable darkness and guiding him towards freedom. If he could have, he would have sighed in relief, but there were no vestiges of oxygen left in his lungs. Quickly, Callum started to move his stiff arms and legs, swimming up towards the precious fragment of light.

Making his way through the water felt much easier now, almost like it was helping him out a little, which Callum appreciated. Once he finally made it near the surface, it should have taken him a little while to pound his way through the ice, but when he realized that he might not yet have the strength to break through it quickly, he found it parting for him, creating a hole that he could easily fit through. It was then that Callum let it sink in that he was back now, but as a very different being. Fundamentally, he still was the same person, but physically he now had weird abilities that didn’t work like any human magic, he didn’t need to breathe, and he wasn’t even alive. He brushed the existentialist thoughts to the back of his mind for now though; they weren’t very important, plus he had other priorities now.

The fresh night air felt amazing on Callum’s chilled, damp face as he heaved himself through the break in the ice with abnormally pale hands. He tried to breathe but found that he couldn’t take in a nice, deep breath, not with the water still trapped in his lungs. The terror resurged for a moment before he promptly began vomiting the water all out, which was extremely unpleasant. Callum hadn’t even realized that would be a thing he would have to deal with now. Magic was weird- he didn’t need to breathe, but he still felt pain as he expelled water out of his lungs? At least he knew that he wasn’t immune to discomfort. However, his mom had said there would be downsides, something that unnerved him greatly. Hopefully, they wouldn’t be too horrible, he didn’t want to end up as some strange sort of zombie or anything.

As he got situated on the ice, Callum took his first desperate, heaving breath of air into his lungs, and while he didn't need it to survive, that didn't stop him from greedily taking it in for a few long minutes. Eventually, Callum looked around the frozen, moonlit lake, and he wished again for his sketchbook. Sure, the treacherous ice had been what ended his mortal life, but it was a gorgeous sight at night. Callum tried to envision how he would draw it, focusing in on the picture, and as he did a frosty image started forming around his feet. Callum didn’t even notice it at first until it started spreading out. It wasn’t as refined as he knew it could be, but he had accidentally done a decent job of recreating the dark lake and surrounding snow banks.

Manipulating the ice and frost in relatively small ways had been rather effortless for Callum, and while he wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, he hadn’t known that the basics would come so naturally to him. Of course, he immediately decided he needed to experiment with his newfound abilities.

He decided to start small, working on drawing with the frost as intricately as he would a pen and paper. It wasn’t nearly as easy as he’d hoped it would be, but when he finally got a little portrait of Bait to come out exactly as he’d envisioned, he couldn’t help but let out a little laugh of joy. From there, he tried to manipulate some actual ice. He put out his hand and attempted to make flowers grow out of the ice covering the lake, and instead almost got stabbed in the foot as he grew a razor-sharp ice stalagmite.

“OOF! That was a close one, ha! I almost stabbed myself… maybe this isn’t going to be quite as easy as frost drawings,” Callum commented to himself and the unresponsive ice. (Even if it couldn’t say anything, Callum felt that there was that one snowbank that looked pretty judgemental. “Really,” it seemed to say, “you tried to make a flower and instead made a spike?” Callum made the executive decision to ignore that particular snowbank.)

After finicking with the ice for around an hour, Callum finally managed to start making things that were recognizable as what he wanted to make, rather than just vaguely similar (and very pointy) versions of what he had tried to create. Callum decided to leave his experiments at that for now- he didn’t want to tire himself out too much, plus trying to manipulate the cold and water… well, those scared him a lot more than making frost and ice. Maybe it was because they were more directly involved with his drowning, but Callum just didn’t want to attempt anything with them right now, not with his death and subsequent rebirth still fresh in his mind.

Since Callum figured he now had a decent grip on his more prominent newfound powers, he figured it was time to talk with the wind and find Ezran and Rayla. While he desperately wanted to see them again, he was a little scared to see how they were faring, particularly Ez. Still, now that he wasn’t going to accidentally hurt them by making random ice stakes, there was no excuse to avoid it, especially if he could figure out a way to comfort them. Although they wouldn’t be able to see him yet, he might be able to help them out somehow.

Callum nervously asked the completely empty air, “Wind? Are you- um, are you there? I was wondering if you would be generous enough to help me out?”

Talking to the wind felt very odd, but Callum said his thoughts aloud enough that he knew this wasn’t really that different. Sure enough, after a few moments of awkward silence, he felt a benevolent breath of wind brush up against him.

“Oh! Hi there! I’m Callum, and I was wondering if you could help me find my brother Ezran and this Moonshadow elf he’s with, Rayla? I know you’re probably busy, but I’d really appreciate it. My mother said that you’d know where to find them, and I don't have any idea where they are, so I could really use your help.”

The wind unceremoniously picked Callum up, sending him soaring through the sky. It seemed to laugh as it whistled through the trees, making sure Callum didn’t get hit by any stray branches as they moved up in elevation. Then, it flew him into the open, up and up into the clear, star-filled sky. Callum let out a few undignified yelps at first, but soon enough those changed to whoops of unadulterated happiness as he went flying through the cold night air.

Dawn was slowly approaching by the time the wind had delivered Callum to the brim of the cave that sheltered his friends. He tentatively walked into the shelter, peering at the sleeping faces of his brother and Rayla. Ez’s eyes were still puffy from crying, and there were faint tear tracks that had dried on his sweet face. The sight broke Callum’s heart, though there was really nothing he could do about it now. He had expected something like this, but even the memories of how Ezran had been after their mom’s death hadn’t been enough to prepare him for seeing it again- not when he'd been the one to cause the sorrow this time. Ezran’s face was more relaxed in sleep, but he was still more stiff and sad than usual, even unconscious. Ez was grieving, and it was all his fault. Sure, he didn’t have much of a choice but knowing that he had caused his little brother such grief and devastation was absolutely shattering.

Callum tried to reach out and hold his brother’s hand to provide him some comfort, even in sleep, but his hand just passed right through. The sensation sent unpleasant shivers down his spine, but he tried again and again, desperately hoping for different results. Eventually, he had to give it up as a lost cause. Callum let some tears of grief and frustration escape before he moved on.

Callum decided to check on Rayla and the egg and was surprised to find that she’d clearly been crying too. While her eyes weren’t as puffy as poor Ez’s, there were tear tracks dried on her face as well. Moonshadow elves weren’t meant to show weakness, so he felt a weird mixture of despair and honor that she would cry for him. Callum prayed that Rayla didn’t blame herself for his demise, she wasn’t at fault, not really. She couldn’t have known that he would fall through the ice and drown, and he didn’t blame her for it one bit. Maybe at first, he’d been a bit upset, but seeing as he was newly dead at the time, he felt that he had some leniency to be moody. Whenever he could interact with them, he’d envelop Ez in a hug (because surely by then he’d be able to touch him, right? He’d be able to give his little brother a hug again?) and assure Rayla as many times as it took that she wasn’t to blame.

For now, however, he could do none of that, but he needed to be able to give them some small measure of comfort, in whatever way he could. So, Callum set to work, first putting some of the extra kindling Rayla had collected on the dwindling fire, and then sitting himself down on the cave floor.

By the time the sun peeked its rays into the cave and woke Ezran and Rayla, Callum had created a series of elaborate drawings in frost. It was nothing too specific, just beautiful frosty pictures that were slightly too deliberate to have been made naturally. The art was well worth the effort when the two woke and Callum saw his little brother’s face light up for a split second, and Rayla’s eyes take on a short-lived glint of wonder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand, the second chapter is up! I went from "let's keep this as medically accurate as possible" in the first part to "there's magic, who the heck needs science or biology?!" in here, and I have no regerts. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was an interesting one to write (who am I kidding though, this whole series is really interesting to write). It might be a while before the next part is up, my weekend is a bit busy, but don't worry I'm not going to abandon this series.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! As always, kudos and comments are appreciated, and comments are especially motivating- I'd love to hear questions/thoughts/concerns/suggestions.


End file.
